Try to avoid any hard inquiries on your credit before buying a home and pay down as much debt as possible to minimize the debt to income ratio.
One thing that mortgage lenders look for is the loan to value ratio (LTV) of the loan. Essentially, this looks at the amount you are borrowing in relation to the value of the item you are buying, taking into account the amount of money you are putting down up front.
One big decision to make when getting a mortgage is the term of the loan. Shorter-term loans will have higher monthly payments, but build equity more quickly, while longer-term loans will trade a lower payment for taking longer to build equity (and usually come with a higher interest rate).
When you are choosing a mortgage, you know that the rate is important. But there are many other things that can make a mortgage better or worse for you, and an expert can help you know which affect your situation.
• How long have people been entering into mortgage loan agreements that did not leave the property in the hands of the lender until the debt was paid? Although there's some dispute among historians, we do know the practice was well established in England by 1481.
Did you know that it's estimated that millions of homeowners that are underwater and current on their mortgage can refinance using one of two special government programs? The first program being the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) and the second is FHA Streamline Refinance.